Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Fair, Balanced, and to the Point

About this web log

This blog is intended as an objective and dispassionate source of information on the latest CAM research. Since my background is in pharmacy and allopathic medicine, I view all CAM as advancing through the development pipeline to eventually become integrated into mainstream medical practice. Some will succeed while others fail. But all are treated fairly here.

About the author

John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.

Common sense considerations

The material on this weblog is for informational purposes. It is not medical advice or counsel. Be smart, consult your health professional before using CAM.

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Over the past 2 years, researchers from all over the world have failed to confirm the results of early studies in Cuba that reported a cholesterol-lowering effect with policosanol (a mixture of fatty alcohols from waxes of sugar cane).

Here’s the latest study from researchers at the McGill University in Montreal, Canada. (more…)

During a seminar at the American Heart Association 2006 meeting titled “The Science Behind Popular Nutrition Claims,” medical researchers summarized the research on a number of complementary options to “help maintain a healthy heart.”

Here is a summary of the Medscape article. Links to more info are highlighted.

A new study adds to the mystery of policosanol. Past posts here have summarized the ongoing debate over its effectiveness as a treatment for high cholesterol levels. Studies conducted by the Center of Natural Products at the National Center for Scientific Research in Havana report a dose-dependent reduction in LDL (bad) cholesterol of up to 29%.

Outside of Cuba, the results are inconsistent. One proposed reason is the source of the policosanol.

This blog has chronicled the lipid-lowering effects of policosanol, which lowers LDL (bad) cholesterol levels by 20% to 30%. Its mechanism of action differs from statins. However, it’s close enough that for safety, I would be cautious taking policosanol and a statin at the same time. One-A-Day Cholesterol Plus contains policosanol.

Now, a new study reports that policosanol has a positive effect on recovery in patients with ischemic stroke. This might be an overstatement, but let’s take a closer look.

In a previous post I reviewed policosanol, which can lower LDL (bad) cholesterol levels by 20% to 30%.

The source of policosanol seems to influence its activity, with Cuban sugar cane-based policosanol being most effective. It’s available on the Internet and in stores. In fact, One-A-Day Cholesterol Plus contains sugar cane-based policosanol.

Now, a study conducted at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy shows how it works.

The advertisement claims that policosanol (or polycosanol) — a pure extract of sugar cane wax — has been the subject of many clinical trials, even more than most pharmaceutical drugs. And it has outperformed some of popular prescription drugs.

But the positive studies have been primarily sponsored by one company in Cuba and conducted by one research center in Havana.